A mother who self-medicated urinary tract infections with cranberry juice over decades has issued an urgent warning to doctor-shy Brits after she was left comatose.
Carol Hadley, 47, suffered for decades with water infections, having first developed them as a teenager. She only ever treated the recurrent disease with cartons of cranberry juice and cystitis sachets, however, which, while well-known for their protective properties, cannot outright treat a full-blown UTI.
The coffee shop manager employed the method for 30 years, even while experiencing distressing symptoms, and in August this year suffered the consequences when an advanced infection left her in a coma.
Infection spread to kidneys and caused sepsis
The mum-of-three began suffering daily headaches before experiencing the signs of a UTI the following month, but she was "busy at work" and ignored them. She fell ill and was rushed to hospital on August 23 on the insistence of her colleagues, and was informed that her infection had taken a grisly turn.
Carol said doctors told her the infection infiltrated her kidneys, caused E.coli and deadly sepsis, with doctors confirming her headaches were caused by brain swelling.
Despite being hospitalised, Carol's condition didn't improve, and she was placed in an induced coma for three weeks, with her family members told to prepare for the worst. She luckily recovered, but was left with long-term damage to her kidneys after her brush with death.
Warning to others
Now, the gran-of-two says she'll never leave a water infection untreated again, and is urging others to ditch relying on cranberry juice to tackle UTIs and instead visit their GP.
Describing the run up to her full-blown infection after initially seeing the signs on August 23, Carol said: "Over the next couple of weeks, I started getting the symptoms of a UTI. It was burning while I pee, I was getting a fever, I just thought it was a normal UTI. I was also having back pain, but I genuinely thought it was because I'm on my feet all day. I now know it was my kidneys."
"On August 23, the security guard at work thought I didn't look well, so checked my blood pressure but it was coming up with nothing. My temperature was fluctuating and my oxygen levels were low so they rang an ambulance."
"My daughter said when she got to the hospital I wasn't making any sense. My words were coming out slurred like I'd been drinking. Apparently I was very incoherent, I was put into the critical care unit two days later. They told my mum and daughter that I'd had a UTI, which led to a kidney infection, which went untreated and led to E.Coli and led to sepsis. Then I was put in an induced coma."
After five days in an induced coma and a week in intensive care, Carol was discharged home on September 11, inspired to help ensure others wouldn't meet her same fate.
Recovery and advice
She said: "I was scared. [When they told me I had] 30% kidney failure [I thought] 'am I going to die?' I was scared and I was emotional. I just thought of my kids and granddaughters, I didn't believe it had happened. It always cleared up with the cranberry juice and sachets within a couple days."
"I didn't get the cranberry juice. I left it because I was busy at work and thought it wasn't that bad. I think when I went to hospital I was hours from death. I had no idea a UTI could even cause this."
"If I do get a UTI in the future, my first port of call will now be the GP because my kidneys are still damaged. I'll never ever ignore a UTI again, I nearly ended up dying in front of my mum and daughter. My advice is don't take them for granted because you've had them frequently. Get to your GP straight away and demand to be put on antibiotics."
"Skip the cranberry juice and sachets all together."
The NHS said some people take cystitis sachets or cranberry drinks and products to prevent UTIs from happening, which may help. However there's no evidence they help ease symptoms or treat a UTI if the infection has already started.
